The present invention relates to a method for producing dried noodles having a high expansion rate and a desirable state of expansion as well as a favorable taste when reconstituted.
So far, for producing dried noodles, various methods have been applied to dehydrate raw noodles. One of such methods is dehydration using heated air. The noodles obtained by this method do not have a desirable high expansion rate and reconstitution property. They also require prolonged periods for reconstitution and the reconsituted noodles are not soft enough as the core of the noodle strips remains hard.
Compared with the above heated air dehydration, dehydration using super-heated steam is more advantageous for producing noodles with a higher expansion rate. However, it has been difficult to make raw noodles expand uniformly under the traditional application conditions, thus causing cracks and blisters of the noodles. They had a poor appearance and an unfavorable sticky taste when reconstituted.
Such undesirable tendency was more obvious in case of noodle strips with a longer diameter. Moreover, when raw noodles were molded into a lump and dehydrated, their state of dehydration was inhomogeneous or the lump was deformed and/or contracted, i.e., the surface of the lump became uneven, to cause inefficient dehydration and cracking (breaking) of the noodle strips after certain period of their preservation.